Banff Weekend

I'm currently sitting in the Taipei airport (vacation, finally!), but wanted to catch up on posting about last weekend, which was just the best. My co-resident got married in Banff and all seven residents in our program made it out for the wedding, babies and Royal College exams notwithstanding.

Everyone was delegated a job pre-wedding and one of ours was to drive the rental SUV for the wedding party down from Edmonton. It was a GMC Yukon XL, so that was fun -- definitely the most Albertan vehicle I've ever ridden in.

fly

We made it into a snowy Banff on Friday evening, checked into our hotel (got upgraded to a suite!), and ventured as far as we could in the cold to dinner at Earls. It was snowing heavily; not super fun to walk in, but really pretty.

veggie burger was meh, but those yam fries made up for it

We woke up on Saturday to a beautiful sunny morning and headed over to St. George's, a cute little church in downtown Banff, for the 10:30 am ceremony.

Unfortunately I missed the bride walking in because I was outside doing my assigned job (writing "just married" on the car) but I caught most of the ceremony, which was so lovely.

stencilled that shhh

If you're thinking of getting married in Banff, I'd recommend St. George's based solely on the fact that it has trampolines in the basement -- like an actual gymnastics gym. The pastor was kind enough to act like we were just in the bathroom ("how did changing the babies go?") during the 20 minutes we spent jumping on the trampolines. Pretty sure that wasn't allowed, but she was cool.

breaking my anonymous blogging rule because this gif is my fave

After trampolining (so much more work than I remember it being as a kid), the McDonald's on the next block was all that anyone wanted, so we headed over, ate, played Heads Up, and hung out until it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the reception.

The reception was at the Banff Park Lodge, a hotel right in town along the Bow River. It was a wonderful party, highlights being the speeches, kisses for Ride to Conquer Cancer donations, cake pops, and dancing. Such a fun time.

On Sunday morning we headed back to Edmonton, stopping in Canmore for eggs and hashbrowns at Craigs' Way Station. The fact that the car still said "just married" made for four solid hours of entertainment on the drive back -- the windows were tinted so people could only see the guys in the front, who were of course winking/waving, and getting some great reactions. Good times.

And thanks, M, for the photos!